MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[usee]

unless carthage trips up in decatur tomorrow wheaton will have to win at carthage to get into the tourney.

Harris says "elmhurst beat us fair and square".....Harris complains hard to the conference for starting the game at 9pm, fire alarm, etc. he blamed leadership in the conference.

He thought wheaton ran out of gas a little at the end. He rested Raymond because he was sick and asked out a couple times.

wheaton w 21 turnovers....fiddler w 5 turnovers in last 5 minutes.....elmhurst turns it over 19x. rebound advantage to elmhurst by 9

[usee]

Harris' final comment was on the Wheaton/Carthage matchup in Kenosha

"its them or us"

and it all comes down to this.

[dansand]

Wow, where to start on this one. 85-81, North Central. I'm sure there will be plenty of back and forth over the last call, but I'll save my comments for later.

North Central played a great game. Anthony Simmons (26 pts) and, especially, Brandon Smith (22) just killed the Vikes. I haven't seen a team dissect Augie's defense like that since last year's CCIW tourney loss against IWU. The Cardinals shot 70% for the game and 83% in the second half. Tough to beat that.

Augie was not very good for most of the night, but what an amazing comeback. They were down 15 with under three minutes left and came back to tie it at 81 with 27 seconds left on a Nate Swetalla jumper. Jordan Delp and Pat Brusveen hit some incredible shots in that stretch. It was very reminiscent of the Illinois-Arizona NCAA tournament game in 2005, except for the outcome.

Nate scored a quiet 12 and did a pretty good job on Dan Walton, who still got 14. Shaun Rose continued his fine offensive play (6-8 FG, 13 pts), but unfortunately two huge keys for the Vikes, Dain Swetalla and Drew Wessels really didn't play very well. Augie also missed a bunch of free throws and a couple of fast break layups when they didn't share the ball. Those hurt.

Another thing that jumped out at me tonight was the number of Cardinal passes that Augie got their hands on but couldn't get control of. I bet there were a dozen times in the first 37 minutes of the game that they'd knock the ball loose and it just seemed like every time North Central would come up with the ball. I'll spare you the "they wanted it more" cliche.

Bottom line, North Central badly outplayed Augie for most of the game and deserved to win. That said...the last call was absolutely terrible. The Cardinal's set had completely broken down and Simmons was on the right wing about 35 feet out with two seconds left. Instead of putting up a long three (his only chance to get a shot off), he put his head down and ran over both Drew Wessels and Dain Swetalla who were planted just inside the 3-point line. He was totally out of control and it was clearly a charge. There was no time showing on the clock, but the horn hadn't sounded. Grey got a technical (he was probably more restrained than most coaches would have been) and Simmons' four free throws made the final 85-81. I've pointed out in the past when I thought Augie was the beneficiary of lousy calls. This one went against them. Oh well. Stuff happens. Hopefully they can channel their frustration over this one into next week's CCIW tourney. It'll be fun.

[sac]

One of the great things about CCIW and Division III basketball is that I'm positive the North Park/IWU game - which is completely meaningless in terms of the league standings - is going to be very competitive and a great one for fans to watch.  The players will be playing as hard as if it were for the league title.
IWU got beat up pretty good by NPU in Bloomington.  I think tonight will be a close game start to finish.

applause

[79jaybird]

What a strange night at Elmhurst, fitting for a "3 Stooges" skit.
Let me tell you about my night.  I am an Alumni Cabinet member going to the game hoping to just sit back and watch a good battle on Senior Night.  Well, it wasn't going to be just "a quiet night".
I get to EC at 6:45 as usual and I notice the Wrestling Regional is only about 80% completed.  The stink, heat, and aroma was suffocating and the entire building was sweltering!  Coach Krohn (Athletic Director) asks me to help out as does Ed our Facilities Mngr.  So I begin to start assembling chairs, and help with the mopping of the floor etc.
Then we get close to the Anthem and introductions one of the EC Football Players asks me to help out with the covering of the lights for intros.  So here I am holding an elevated pole covering the lights.
Now the game begins and Coach Krohn asks me to help with the towel duties around the perimeter of the court.  To make the story short, I did this the entire game.
Halftime-  with 8 minutes to go until the start of the 2nd half... THE FIRE ALARM GOES OFF!     YEP!  I kid you not, the fire alarms are all flashing and beeping with that annoying racket!  Everybody had to evacuate the building... cont.

[79jaybird]

So we resume play in the second half and there was a loose ball scramble, which caromed to the cameraman, and sent him flying!  He gets up and is bleedy bad from his elbow!
All in all, this was a good battle between 2 teams that I think should accompany Augie in the big dance.  That's just my opinion and I know it's a LONG shot, but I do feel that Augie/EC/Wheaton are/would be a great representative in the NCAA Field.  Today felt like a playoff game.
Congrats to the Bluejay Seniors playing their final reg. home game at Elmhurst.

[ac_fan]

So Augie is the number 1 seed and Elmhurst is the 2 seed ... Let's say for instance that Carthage wins tomorrow at Millikin, North Central wins tuesday against IWU, and Carthage beats Wheaton on Wed. Since all three teams would then be 8-6, who is in and what would the seeding look like?

NC (2-0) vs. WC
WC (1-1) vs. CC
CC (1-1) vs. NC

After seeing the game tonight I would much rather Augie play Carthage right now than Wheaton or North Central. Although I think North Central shooting above 70% at the Carver Center again would be a fluke. They didn't miss a shot in the second half until about 3 and a half minutes to go in the game.

[robberki]

Nice to meet Titan Q today at the ol crackerbox. Bob, whenever you want to give that GO VIKINGS sweatshirt back is fine by me. 

[79jaybird]

Right now I would NOT want to play North Central, because I think they are the hottest team at this particular juncture.    I think Elmhurst's defense played better tonight. I am still cautious and worried because we turned the ball over way too much.  We would pick up a loose ball and/or force a turnover... then get too excited and jump the gun with a poor play. 
Carthage is up and coming.  2 seeds 3 teams,  1 school will be SOL.  Wow, March Madness and it's not even March yet!

[dansand]

So Augie is the number 1 seed and Elmhurst is the 2 seed ... Let's say for instance that Carthage wins tomorrow at Millikin, North Central wins tuesday against IWU, and Carthage beats Wheaton on Wed. Since all three teams would then be 8-6, who is in and what would the seeding look like?

NC (2-0) vs. WC
WC (1-1) vs. CC
CC (1-1) vs. NC

After seeing the game tonight I would much rather Augie play Carthage right now than Wheaton or North Central. Although I think North Central shooting above 70% at the Carver Center again would be a fluke. They didn't miss a shot in the second half until about 3 and a half minutes to go in the game.

I could be wrong, but I think Carthage would get in over Wheaton by virtue of their win over Augie. I'm sure someone will point out if that's not right. Greg? Usee?

[ac_fan]

So Augie is the number 1 seed and Elmhurst is the 2 seed ... Let's say for instance that Carthage wins tomorrow at Millikin, North Central wins tuesday against IWU, and Carthage beats Wheaton on Wed. Since all three teams would then be 8-6, who is in and what would the seeding look like?

NC (2-0) vs. WC
WC (1-1) vs. CC
CC (1-1) vs. NC

After seeing the game tonight I would much rather Augie play Carthage right now than Wheaton or North Central. Although I think North Central shooting above 70% at the Carver Center again would be a fluke. They didn't miss a shot in the second half until about 3 and a half minutes to go in the game.

I could be wrong, but I think Carthage would get in over Wheaton by virtue of their win over Augie. I'm sure someone will point out if that's not right. Greg? Usee?

Would that make North Central the 3 seed then since both split with Augie and NC split with Elmhurst but Carthage is 0-2 vs. them?

[dansand]

So Augie is the number 1 seed and Elmhurst is the 2 seed ... Let's say for instance that Carthage wins tomorrow at Millikin, North Central wins tuesday against IWU, and Carthage beats Wheaton on Wed. Since all three teams would then be 8-6, who is in and what would the seeding look like?

NC (2-0) vs. WC
WC (1-1) vs. CC
CC (1-1) vs. NC

After seeing the game tonight I would much rather Augie play Carthage right now than Wheaton or North Central. Although I think North Central shooting above 70% at the Carver Center again would be a fluke. They didn't miss a shot in the second half until about 3 and a half minutes to go in the game.

I could be wrong, but I think Carthage would get in over Wheaton by virtue of their win over Augie. I'm sure someone will point out if that's not right. Greg? Usee?

Would that make North Central the 3 seed then since both split with Augie and NC split with Elmhurst but Carthage is 0-2 vs. them?

I believe it would.

[markerickson]

Where is Greg with the stats?

NP center Stephano Jones' strength could have partially minimized Freeman's game, but spasms kept Jones from playing.  Freeman, not uncustomary, was the difference in the game.  NP once again relied too heavily on four guys hanging around the trey line instead of creating opportunities after penetration.

I'd love to see Jay Alexander as the starting PG.

[diehardfan]

In the midst of a seriously fire code violating gym with crazy rowdy crowds and a heated matchup for the conference championship, I was repeatedly hitting refresh on my phone for score updates of the Elmhurst-Wheaton game. This was especially funny given the fact that I would cheer or groan at completely random moments in the game I was actually there for, and getting lots of weird looks from the fans around me!

I can't imagine that having to play that snow delayed game on Thursday + a late game tonight helped Wheaton very much. Nevertheless, Elmhurst got their revenge fair and square. I am right with 79jaybird about both these teams being playoff caliber teams. It's a shame that Elmhurst probably needs to get the A, and Wheaton has to worry about even making the conference tournament.

Argh.... get er done at Carthage boys!

And go Millikin and IWU!!!

[AndOne]

The foul at the end of the game on Wessels was questionable at best.  Simmons didn't even seem to know how much time was left.  He lowered his shoulder and tried to barrel into the lane with less than a second left, definitely wasn't even going to get a shot off, and the ref (who had blown his whistle maybe twice the entire game) bailed him out.  Oh well, Augie is still CCIW champs and will host the conference tourney next weekend (although this really hurts their chances to host NCAA tourney games).

The foul on Wessels was no more questionable than the no foul call on Adam Krumtinger's last second shot in this year's first meeting between Augie and North Central. I'm sure all the Augie fans feel there was no foul against Krumtinger AND no foul against Simmons. Sorry guys, but you can't get all the calls all the time.